Since Mother Eve in the Garden long ago

I'm making a real effort at being fully prepared for the Civil War Weekend ahead of time, so today I rearranged the schedule to fix last year's problems - took out several of the lecture slots (30 minutes was too short and most of them went over), took out rounders (they just won't play), took out the frying pan toss (I CANNOT RUN IT it ruins my day and saps all my socializing energy), etc. Next on the list: tell the guy who sells Amish baskets that he can't use his WWII surplus tent. Hopefully we have his email address because I do not want to talk to him about this.

With some more time, I've come to feel okay about Patreon! It really clicked when I thought about Your Wardrobe Unlock'd/Foundations Revealed, and Historical Sewing, and the people who do classes and talks - so, it's a different model, but it's basically the same thing. It just seemed weird to me because the people I'm closest to do it for their own impressions rather than for an audience, kind of. I think I've got the page how I want it, but I need to fix this weird problem (the "Chéruit" tier disappeared off the editing screen, so I made a new Chéruit tier, only both of them are showing up in the preview of the page ಠ_ಠ) and write the first installment of the story ... although now I'm reconsidering the story. My first goal is that if I get 20 patrons I'll start podcasting - which I've been thinking about doing ever since I did an interview on the AskHistorians podcast and people really liked it - and blogging and podcasting and working full time and doing some sewing for myself is already a lot, consistently writing fiction at the same time, especially given the difficulty I have with mixing creative endeavors (sewing and fiction), might be adding too much to the mix.

As "I deserve it" presents recently, I bought myself a fine oblique stub nib for my Esterbrook pen, a pretty little dip pen, and a gold-filled Wahl Eversharp ringtop pen (like Joan Holloway) and mechanical pencil, BUT it's important to note that I stopped myself from buying a slightly used Visconti Venus in rose marble even though it's absolutely beautiful which cost more than the others put together, so well done on the whole.

I've also been cheering myself up with The Thief (I will be ready to read Thick as Thieves in six months or so, I reckon, since I need to reread everything) and paying super-close attention to all the double entendres. HIS MOUTH FALLS OPEN IN PATENT DISBELIEF BECAUSE IT'S NOT REAL DISBELIEF! HE'S HAPPY WITH HIS STREET ACCENT NOT OUT OF REVERSE SNOBBERY BUT BECAUSE HE'S SMUG THAT THEY CAN'T TELL IT'S FAKE! Megan Whalen Turner is such a genius.

Edit: "I whistled soundlessly as I thought of the twists in the tale." MAN.